Backup
by GageWhitney
Summary: "She's playing hard to get," Merle says, laughing.


Title: Backup

Author: GageWhitney

Rating: T

Pairing: Daryl/Andrea

Disclaimer: Very much not mine.

Summary: "She's playing hard to get," Merle says, laughing.

Note: Based on a prompt from kijikun: Daryl catches Merle pinning Andrea to a wall/tree. Daryl's reaction.

Set in the prison.

* * *

Daryl hears them on his way to the guard tower to relieve Glenn. Raised voices, those he recognizes as belonging to Andrea and Merle, carrying across the prison yard with the breeze.

He pauses his movements and listens, trying to make out their conversation. He begins to move closer, and soon he can hear his brother laughing derisively as he goads her.

"Aw, come on, sweet cheeks," he says. "When's the last time you had a real man between your legs?"

"I'm telling you one last time, damn it." Her voice is tight, angry, but calm. "Get away from me before you get hurt."

Daryl swears under his breath and picks up his pace, wanting to intervene before the fight gets out of hand. It wouldn't be the first time Merle had picked a fight with a member of the group. It wouldn't even be the first time he'd picked a fight with Andrea, who Daryl knows can handle herself better than most of them.

The thing is, he's begun to feel guilty for bringing Merle back into the group when all his brother had ever done was make trouble with people. At the time, he hadn't known what else to do; hell, he couldn't imagine leaving his brother, his own flesh and blood, to die like an animal in the woods.

Now, though, Daryl often wishes Merle would just up and leave, abandon him and the group without a word. It wouldn't be the first time for that, either.

He hustles around the side of the building to where their voices are coming from just in time to see Merle shove Andrea hard against the wall, pinning her to it with his hand on her upper arm and his knee between her legs. He leans into her, letting the stump of his arm support him against the bricks.

Andrea pushes uselessly at his bulky body, looking angry and afraid, and Daryl feels a tight ball of rage form in the pit of his stomach.

"Hey!" he shouts. He starts to run.

His brother turns his head for a second and grins widely. "Hey, what's up, Darlena?"

"Merle!"

Daryl reaches them and uses all of his force to shove at the older man, forcing him aside and away from Andrea. She squeaks in surprise, and Daryl grabs her arm, pulling her away from the wall to tuck her behind himself.

She squeezes his bicep. "Daryl."

"Let me deal with it," he answers gruffly.

Steadying himself, Merle steps closer. "Damn, son," he grumbles. "Almost knocked the wind out of me."

Daryl's eyes blaze as he stares his brother down. "Fuck are you doing, man?"

"She's playing hard to get," Merle says, laughing.

Andrea's fingernails dig into Daryl's arm.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he says. "Stay away from her."

"What do you care? You fucking her?"

Daryl bristles. "Don't," he says, his tone of voice clearly a warning.

"Oh. Is that it?" Merle watches as Andrea sidles up alongside his brother, her mouth set in a firm line, hands in fists against her legs. He leers at her. "You went and got yourself some smart bitch pussy, huh?"

"Fuck you," Andrea spits, moving forward. Daryl grabs the back of her shirt and yanks her back to him.

Merle just laughs. "That's right, brother! Keep your ho on a leash."

"That's enough!" Daryl barks. "Just leave. Go on back to your cell."

The elder Dixon eyes Andrea, still smirking. "You give me a holler when you're ready for the real thing, honey."

"Not on your life," she says.

Merle makes to leave, but reaches out to pinch Andrea's ass as he passes by. She lunges for him, but Daryl's faster, and before any of them know it, he's got Merle knocked flat on the ground.

Daryl kneels, his leg pressing into Merle's arm and his hand gripping his shirt, and leans over his brother.

"Don't make me choose, because it ain't coming out in your favor," he says evenly. "You say one more word to her. You touch her at all, and I swear –"

"You swear what?" Merle smirks. He chuckles. "You're weak, little brother. Always have been. You think I'm taking you seriously right now? You think I –"

Reaching down to his belt, Daryl pulls up a knife and presses it against Merle's neck. "You should start taking me seriously, brother. Shit's changed." He pushes the blade against his skin, just hard enough to draw a few drops of blood. "Hurt her, or any of the others, and I will fucking end you."

"You'd do that?" Merle gives him a toothy smile. "For some cooch? For this bunch of idiots, you'd go against your own kin?"

Now it's Daryl who smiles. "I already had you pegged for dead. And you know what? I dealt with it just fine."

"All right," Merle snorts. "Fine, then. Let me up."

Daryl doesn't move a muscle. He watches Merle, trying to gauge his intentions, the knife pressing into his flesh, until he feels Andrea's hand on his back. He'd almost forgotten she was even there.

"Daryl," she says, her voice calm and quiet. Her fingers twitch against him and bunch his shirt up in her fist. "Daryl."

He nods, silently answering her, and takes the knife away from Merle's throat before rising to his feet. He doesn't move to help the older man get up. "Go," he says.

Merle gets off the ground with a groan and puts his hands up like he's being arrested. "I'm going, I'm going," he says. He smiles once more at Andrea. "See y'all later."

Daryl watches to make sure he leaves before turning to Andrea. "You all right?"

For a moment, she glares at him. "Just so you know, I don't need you to fight my battles for me. If that was anyone but your brother..."

He nods. "I know. Never hurts to have some backup, though."

She crosses her arms over her chest and nods. "Thank you for dealing with him."

"Needed to be done," he says. She stares at him, and he feels himself starting to become antsy under her gaze. He jerks his thumb backwards. "I should get back. Got to relieve Glenn on watch duty."

"Okay," she says. He starts to leave, and she calls out to him. "Daryl?"

He turns back to her. "Yeah?"

"Did you mean what you said?" she asks. "About me? About the group?"

Daryl's quiet for a few moments, squinting against the sun. "The way I figure it… you all have been better to me than my own family." He shrugs. "Ain't going to let him fuck that up."

She smiles softly at him. "Hey, do you maybe want some company up in the tower?" With a shrug, she adds, "You know, as backup?"

"Yeah," he nods. He gives her a very small smile in return. "Yeah, backup sounds good."


End file.
